Rick Langford, of Waterloo, was at the ballroom and he wanted to see Bachmann in person.

“I’ve seen her on the news,” he said. “I think she does a wonderful job.”

Many of those who went to see Bachmann were apart of the Tea Party, some were her old friends and neighbors, and others just wanted to see what the homegrown candidate had to say.

David Alderman, of Waterloo, came out to find a Republican candidate to root for.

“A lot of us here just want to find that candidate that we can get behind,” he said. “And there’s something about her. She’s got that it factor, the flair, the excitement.”

In her speech, Bachmann highlighted her Iowan roots and said that she wanted to bring her Midwestern values to the White House and the rest of the country.

“We need more closeness, more families, more love for each other,” Bachmann said in her speech.

Bachmann kept her speech vague in terms of policy, but she did say she would talk more specifics Monday, when she plans to officially announce her campaign.

Bachmann’s appearance in Iowa comes after a surge of interested in her campaign. A Des Moines Register poll conducted recently showed that Bachmann has the support of 22 percent of Iowa Republicans. She sits in second place on that poll, just behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has the support of 23 percent of Iowa Republicans.

After Bachmann makes her official announcement, she will be off to campaign in the battleground states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.